Category Archives: Events

Monday, April 14 @ 4:30PM: Joseph Bruchac To Tell Traditional Stories

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Monday, April 14 @ 4:30PM Jacobus Lounge

Joseph Bruchac, an Abenaki storyteller and author from the Adirondack mountain foothills, will read from his books and discuss his views on the Native American oral traditions. 

Joseph Bruchac lives in the Adirondack mountain foothills town of Greenfield Center, New York, in the same house where his maternal grandparents raised him. Much of his writing draws on that land and his Abenaki ancestry. Although his American Indian heritage is only one part of an ethnic background that includes Slovak and English blood, those Native roots are the ones by which he has been most nourished.

He holds a B.A. from Cornell University, an M.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from Syracuse and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Union Institute of Ohio. His work as a educator includes eight years of directing a college program for Skidmore College inside a maximum security prison.

He has been a storyteller-in-residence for Native American organizations and schools throughout the continent, including the Institute of Alaska Native Arts and the Onondaga Nation School. He discusses Native culture and his books and does storytelling programs at dozens of elementary and secondary schools each year as a visiting author.

Presented by the Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee, the event is free and open to the public.

The Ethics of Solitary Confinement

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Come and walk inside a life-size replica of a solitary confinement prison cell at the library! This Tuesday, March 18th, at noon, there will be an opening reception and panel discussion about the ethics of solitary confinement with Mecke Nagel of the Philosophy Department and Ute Ritz-Deutch of the History Department.

The event is free and open to the public. Display will be in the Library until March 21st.

The purpose of having a life-size solitary confinement cell on display is to raise awareness about issues related to solitary confinement, which is widely used in the United States. We want our students and the wider community to get a sense of how small these spaces are and to imagine what it might be like to live in such a cell 23 hours a day. We therefore invite everyone to step inside. Just recently the UN Rapporteur on Torture issued a statement saying that solitary confinement that lasts more than 15 days is considered torture. It is important for us to recognize the legal and ethical implications as well as the social costs of keeping tens of thousands of people imprisoned this way every day.

Sponsored by the Philosophy Department, the Center for Ethics, Peace and Social Justice, the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies, the Criminology Club, and the SUNY Cortland Amnesty International Student Group.

More info contact Ute Ritz-Deutch at uteritzdeutch@gmail.com or call (607) 351-8033.

Memorial Library Presents the film “THE OTHER CITY”

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SUNY Cortland’s Memorial Library will present a screening of the film “The Other City” on Tuesday, January 28th at 7:00 PM in Sperry 105.

In every city, there’s another city that visitors rarely see. But this other city isn’t just anywhere—it’s in Washington, D.C. The very city that is home to the capitol of the most powerful country in the world has an HIV/AIDS rate that is not only the nation’s highest, but rivals some African countries.

“The Other City” introduces us to the people who live in the shadow of the Capitol but remain almost invisible to the lawmakers and lobbyists who live there. It’s about politics and ideology, corruption and bureaucracy, and an epidemic that grew out of control while few people paid attention or cared.

The screening is a joint effort of Memorial Library and the Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee (CICC). The CICC is an all-campus committee of faculty and staff appointed by the Provost. Each year members of the Committee choose a theme to frame a year-long series of lectures, discussions, film screenings, and art exhibits. This theme is meant to promote cultural life on campus and help the campus and Cortland community engage in discussions connected to issues relevant to today’s world. This year’s theme is Inter/Action.

HIV/AIDS is a world-wide health issue that affects not only our nation’s capitol  but every community.

Please consider attending.

Inter/Action Film Nov. 21@ 7 pm in Sperry 205: “Up Heartbreak Hill”

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Memorial Library contributes to the Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee’s Inter/Action theme with a screening of the film “Up Heartbreak Hill” next Thursday, November 21 at 7:00 PM in Sperry 205.

“Up Heartbreak Hill chronicles the lives of three Native American teenagers in Navajo, NM — Thomas, an elite runner, Tamara, an academic superstar, and Gabby, an aspiring photographer — as they navigate their senior year at a reservation high school. As graduation nears, they must decide whether or not to stay in their community — a place inextricably woven into the fiber of their beings — or leave in pursuit of opportunities elsewhere. Up Heartbreak Hill examines the ways in which we define ourselves, and the broader issues surrounding what it means to be Native American in the contemporary world.”

It played at the 2012 Cleveland International Film Festival and aired in July 2012 on the PBS series “P.O.V.” Have a look at the trailer on YouTube: “Up Heartbreak Hill”

The screening is sponsored by Memorial Library, the Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee (CICC), the Native American Studies Committee and the Auxiliary Services Corporation.

 Please consider joining us next Thursday evening!